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A client of mine contacted me this week in despair. “I’m trying to make a career change, have a mixed bag of skills and think I give off confusing signals sometimes. I’m not quite sure what area I should focus on.”

This is a question that I come across quite often. We are often convinced that we should work on our weaknesses and gain as many skills as possible to be considered a more valuable worker. But becoming average in a large number of areas is never as good as becoming excellent in just one or two.

Indeed the quickest way to securing your next job, advancing your career, or securing more business more quickly is to do two things:

1. Know exactly what your ‘assets’ are, and

2. Know how to ‘market’ your assets effectively.

Sometimes we can get confused into thinking all the things we can do, i.e. our skills, are our assets. Your assets however are NOT your skills. It is only the things that we are really good at, spend lots of time doing, enjoy doing, (and often deliver real results in) that are our assets. Sometimes they can be referred to as ‘strengths’, but by calling them ‘assets‘ we can derive a better understanding.

Essentially, your assets are a true reflection of your value and the value you can provide for others. Subsequently, your value can be measured in the amount of trust people have in you to do that thing that you do.

For example, if a friend asks you look after her 12 month old baby for a few hours whilst she goes to an appointment, it shows that one of the ways in which you deliver real value for your friend is through your reliability, trustworthiness, level of care etc. This is one of your assets and it has generated enough trust that she is happy to leave her young child with you.

In work (or in business) there will also be areas where you also generate huge amounts of trust. They will typically be found generally in one of four main areas:

Innovation / Ideas

People / Influence

Service / Delivery

Details / Systems

Where do you generate the most Trust?

When you have identified and pinpointed your area of Trust, i.e. the area where you deliver the most value to others, (i.e. your strengths or assets) and you are able to communicate that well enough to your audience, they will be happy to hand over their work, job or business opportunities to you in the same way your friend handed you her baby.

If you don’t learn this you will find it harder to get that promotion, get to work on that exciting new project, land that new job, or reel in that big client.

Just as an asset can produce income without you having to do much, work and opportunities will flow to you rather than you having to chase it once your assets have been clearly defined and communicated in the marketplace.

If you are still focusing on your skills and not sure which ones you should be prioritising, then could identifying the area in which you generate the most trust be the next step for you?

The good news is you can start right here for free with this clever little online app.

After having identified their area of Trust invest some time to really drill down into your strengths, your assets, your talent profile, and what career path, role, business or business model you should be pursuing so as not to waste valuable time, effort and money focusing on the wrong things.

Then take the time to learn how to market your strengths more clearly and convincingly, based on where you deliver the most value and generate the most trust.

The Anatomy of an Intrapreneur

If your business has done all the cost-cutting, fat-trimming and weight shedding it can and is still seeing a levelling off in revenue and profits, then the spring sunshine should serve as a message for you. It’s time to sow some seeds of growth.

Growth in recessionary times is predicated upon one thing: Innovation.

It takes a strategic approach to drive strategic innovation in your business, but one important component you are likely to need to make it happen is an Intrapreneur. (watch the video below).

Intrapreneurs are unfettered entrepreneurial instigators within your business who will: Continue reading →

LISTEN to Gary discuss changing careers, going from worker to entrepreneur, the Workplace Revolution and the 12 Radical New Strategies for Making a Successful Career Change or Grow a Freelancing Career with NN Dee on The Workplace Show on Resonance FM. Continue reading →

On apprenticeships, do you think/believe young people are ready for the working environment when they leave school/college?

If not, what in your opinion requires addressing?

Donna Still

Hi Donna

Whilst questions on whether young people are ready for an apprenticeship ( or the workplace), or whether the apprenticeship framework is right for the young person are important and valid, the real question is whether the workplace (employer) is ready for the Continue reading →